Various display locations in retail stores, such as store aisle end caps, checkout counters, and other prominent locations, are prime locations for drawing consumers' attention to “impulse buy” items, such as, in a grocery store setting, certain condiments, snacks, beverages, and the like. The items may be loaded in dispensing trays that can advance the items as the items are removed. However, the items can vary over the course of a year due to the change of seasons or the approach of different holidays and the containers for the items can vary significantly. It is therefore necessary to change the dispensing tray to match the item to be displayed and dispensed.
A need therefore exists for a dispensing tray that can accommodate product queues of various widths.
To better draw the attention of shoppers, displays known as “power wings” (also referred to herein as “power wing displays”) are therefore made for mounting to end caps for displaying such items. Power wing displays may include means for prominently presenting advertising images and/or advancing a queue of merchandise items forward to position a front item in a dispensing/removal position from which the front item is easily reached and removed. Wire frame structures with standard dimensions and mounts are frequently selected for this purpose, as they are convenient to manufacture, install, and reposition, while supporting a significant amount of weight for their size.
Some companies manufacture and/or merchandise “impulse buy” products of multiple types. For these companies, it is desirable to display a selection of several of their products in a unified display structure, but products that they wish to display together may be packaged in bottles, jars, cans, boxes, tubs, or other containers of various different shapes and sizes. Existing queue-feed type power wing displays typically have a uniform shelf or tray width. Product queues of wider widths will not fit on their shelves or trays, and product queues of narrower widths may bunch together, tip over, slip below a rail and fall off the tray, or otherwise become misaligned in a way that makes the queue visually unappealing and/or could result in damaged products or product containers. In addition, presenting product queues of various heights on different trays or shelves of a standardized power wing display may result in disparities in overhead space, which may be visually unappealing and/or negatively impact capacity, in a location where space comes at a high premium.
Consequently, a need exists for a multi-level dispensing display frame that can simultaneously accommodate product queues of different widths at separate levels. In addition, a need exists for a configurable multi-level dispensing display frame that can simultaneously accommodate product queues of different heights on separate trays, while limiting the amount of unused overhead space above product queues of smaller heights.